Soundside

Last year, the Yakima City Council made a landmark decision by passing a proclamation to designate the month of June as LGBTQ+ Pride month.  Less than a year later, the council voted to reverse that decision.  The move was celebrated by far right religious leaders like Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk and Sean Feucht, who took to X to applaud the decision.  And while pride celebrations defiantly went on in the city, it’s raised a lot of concerns about the ties between public officials and prominent Christian Nationalist figures.  GUESTS:  Mai Hoang - Central and Eastern Washington reporter for Cascade PBS. Dominick Bonny - investigative journalist based in Wenatchee. RELATED LINK: “Under God: How Christianity Permeates Yakima City Politics.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many Washington students, and parents, the school year is just about to start - if it hasn’t already. And they're not the only ones gearing up for the new year. Teachers and school staff are about to step into a new year with all sorts of new questions about how their respective school systems will be run. So, we wanted to check in with a panel of education experts, to hear about how they’re preparing for both an incoming class  of students, and the realities of working in the Washington education system right now. Guests: Ibijoke Idowu, a special education teacher with Seattle Public Schools Hilda Lail, Vancouver Public Schools Bilingual Family and Community Engagement Partnership Coordinator Julianna Dauble, president of the Renton Education Association Relevant Links: Cell Phone and Smart Device Use in Schools - OSPI SPS, city of Seattle announce safety plan before new school year - Seattle Times Seattle school closures: Why almost every student would be affected - Seattle Times More school resource officers coming to Renton - Kent Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earlier this month, City of Seattle workers were told most of them will have to return to the office at least 3 days a week starting this fall. Meanwhile… a certain large tech and online retail company (named after a river in South America) has reportedly started a mulling the minimum number of hours employees must stay on site to count towards its three day in-office mandate.These changes had us wondering – is remote work gradually eroding in the Puget Sound region? One study looking at 2022 Census data found that a quarter of workers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area worked at least part of the week remotely, away from the office. But the past year has brought a lot of changes to employer policies around where employees have to put in their hours – and for policymakers, that’s coinciding with concern about the lasting effects of remote work on Seattle’s struggling downtown core.  For a vibe check on remote work and what the numbers tell us about its effects on Seattle, Soundside host Libby Denkmann caught up with Tracy Hadden Loh, fellow at the Brookings Institute, and Joshua McNichols, growth and development reporter for KUOW and co-host of the "Booming" podcast. Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible. If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Guests: Tracy Hadden Loh, fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. Joshua McNichols, growth and development reporter for KUOW and co-host of the "Booming" podcast. Related Links: How to break the doom loop: Actionable insights from the Brookings Future of Downtowns learning exchange Amazon cracks down on ‘coffee badging,’ amid return-to-office push | The Seattle Times KUOW - Seattle ticks through to-do list to revive downtown Seattle mayor mandates 3 days of in-office work for city employees (komonews.com) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early 90s, Seattle was at the center of a sonic revolution. Grunge, a homegrown sludgy rock sound, became a global commodity. At the same time, another sound was making its mark on Seattle. The Gits were a band on the precipice of national stardom, standing out with their punk sensibility and charismatic female vocalist, with music labels circling. But the promise of a big break came to a violent end. The band’s lead singer, Mia Zapata, was murdered in 1993. It happened in the early morning hours after a show at the Comet Tavern.  For years, in media accounts, the band was defined by that tragic night. Today, the Gits’ drummer, Steve Moriarty, says he doesn’t want an act of violence to overshadow their full story. His book, Mia Zapata and the Gits: A True Story of Art, Rock, and Revolution, tells a fuller story of the band's existence. Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.  Guests: Steve Moriarty, drummer and author of Mia Zapata and The Gits: A True Story of Art, Rock, and RevolutionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Addressing homelessness is looking a little different in Thurston County these days. The county, which includes Olympia, just became the fifth community in the nation to collect data on every single adult experiencing homelessness. The county’s partner organization says that data includes the names and circumstances of each person counted. And the county vows to update the information monthly. It’s part of a model called “Built for Zero”.    Guests: Keylee Marineau, homeless response program manager at Thurston County's Office of Housing & Homeless Prevention Garrett Grainger, Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University   Relevant Links: Olympia, Wash. Becomes Fifth U.S. City to Collect Data on All Single Adults Experiencing Homelessness - PR Newswire Blog: Five Questions Housing Analysts Should Ask About "By-Name Data" - HSA: The Forum for Housing-Related Research and Debate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We know a few things about the woman known as Lou Graham, for sure:  She was a brothel madam in Seattle at the turn of the century. And she’s immortalized in one of the city’s popular ghost tours.  Maybe you’ve even felt her spiritual presence while passing through tunnels underneath Pioneer Square. Beyond that, facts are sparse. But plenty of legends about Graham’s life and impact on Seattle are served up to tourists and YouTube viewers who care to search her name.   From Geographics: “Technically sex work was illegal, so Graham made sure to have the ladies registered as “seamstresses” on the books. From Women Being Podcast: “Graham was an advocate for women’s rights and social justice, and supported the women’s rights movement, including the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. She died in 1903 a feminist icon.” It turns out, most of that is TOTAL BUNK.But the truth behind those fables – and a journalist’s search to find it – may be even more illuminating.   GUEST: Hanna Brooks Olson, author of “Notoriously Bad Character: The True Story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers Who Built Seattle” RELATED LINKS: https://hannabrooksolsen.com/  The Many False Histories of Lou Graham | Medium See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last winter, federal officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a program to save the perpetually threatened northern spotted owl. The problem? Invasive barred owls are crowding out our local forest -- they're bigger, and more aggressive. The solution? Culling half a million of those owls over the next 30 years. On its face, the issue seems pretty straightforward: barred owls are invasive, and because of them, Northern spotted owls are disappearing.  But for Jay Odenbaugh, a philosopher and ethicist, the issue brings up a bigger question: how we as humans try to intervene in a problem we're also responsible for creating. KUOW's Diana Opong spoke with Odenbaugh about a recent op-ed he co-authored for the New York Times about how we can think more ethically about conservation.  Guests: Jay Odenbaugh, professor of humanities at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. Related Links: KUOW - Why the feds want to cull barred owls in the Pacific Northwest Opinion | To Save Some Endangered Owls, Would You Kill 500,000 Other Owls? - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Feds propose shooting one owl to save another in Pacific Northwest | The Seattle Times See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At this point, most of Washington’s primary election results have been called. Bob Ferguson will face Dave Reichert in the race for governor. Tanya Woo and Alexis Mercedes Rinck are vying for a spot on the Seattle City Council. Goodspaceguy once again failed to get onto the November ballot. But – in one race, the drama has remained at a fever pitch as votes trickle in.Nearly 2 million people cast ballots, but in the end, just 51 votes separated second and third place in the race to be Public Lands Commissioner. And the fun’s not over yet. Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Guest: Northwest News Network state government reporter Jeanie Lindsay Relevant Links: KUOW: A recount is coming in race for WA public lands commissioner See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When some people picture political conventions, they might imagine a grand stage lit up with dazzling lights, a seemingly never ending stream of speeches - and a sea of enthusiastic supporters cheering their hearts out, waving lots and lots of American flags. Since Monday, the Democratic National Convention has been underway in Chicago.  There have been speeches and high-profile moments. like a visit from Michelle Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama. But there’s a whole other world at the DNC. Beyond the big speeches and VIP appearances, there’s a bustling undercurrent of activity. From vibrant panel discussions and quirky merchandise stalls, to a crowd that’s anything but predictable—there’s a lot more happening than meets the eye.Guests: Mike Davis, WBEZ Theater reporter Relevant Links: WBEZ Chicago: At a DNC fair, Chicago's Black entrepreneurs get a moment in the spotlight See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chances are high that you’ve never been to McNeal Island before. Few have - the island, located in the Puget Sound, southwest of Tacoma, isn’t accessible to the general public. The only people that are allowed are staff and pre-screened visitors at the Washington State Special Commitment Center - the first post-prison institution for people designated as sexually violent predators. Around 515 people have been detained in the Special Commitment Center program since 1990.  But now, a new report from the Seattle Times shows that, for the first time in its history, the center is releasing more patients than it’s taking in.  What that means for these patients, and the general public, depends on who you ask. Here to shed some light and help make sense of things is Seattle Times investigative reporter Rebecca Moss.   GUEST: Rebecca Moss - Seattle Times Investigative Reporter RELATED LINKS: WA confined hundreds for sexual violence. Then it quietly began releasing them. - Seattle Times The island where WA has confined hundreds for sexual violence: What to know - Seattle Times See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.